The present invention is directed to a garment particularly suitable for therapeutic treatment of injuries to the upper and lower back.
Back pain due to injuries to the back are among the most common of debilitating conditions suffered by humans. It is well known that it is desirable to apply heat and/or cooling to back injuries. However, it is extremely difficult to do so, particularly for active working people. It is impractical to apply a heating pad or an ice pack to one's back while working in a factory or working in an office.
A variety of garments have been proposed for applying heat or cooling to humans, but they all suffer from disadvantages. Garments designed to locally vary the temperature of the human body are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,074,250; 3,296,819; 3,476,102; and 3,950,789. Some of these garments are bulky and cannot be worn during activities such as work, athletics, and recreation. Another disadvantage of many prior garments is that they need to be provided in different sizes, depending upon the size of the individual wearing a garment. For example, if heat or cooling is required in the lower back, a garment with a pocket located to cool the lower back of a tall person, if used on a short person, would end up cooling the derriere.
Accordingly, there is a need for a garment that provides therapeutic heat or cold treatment to the individual wearing the garment, where the garment can be worn by individuals of different sizes, and can be worn during daily activities.